The author discusses the slow build times associated with the Rust compiler when deploying applications in Docker, particularly when using statically linked binaries. By exploring various compilation techniques and tools like cargo-chef, they aim to improve build efficiency while analyzing the performance bottlenecks in the compilation process, specifically focusing on link-time optimization (LTO) and LLVM-related tasks.

SWE-Bench Verified was optimized from 240 GiB to just 5 GiB by implementing delta layering, restructuring packfiles, and removing unnecessary build artifacts. These changes drastically reduce setup time for evaluating coding agents, allowing for faster downloads and efficient use of cloud resources. The core optimization technique is applicable to other execution environments as well.